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Observation of babies suggests to me that their potential hostile aggressiveness toward other people is initially under a strong innate inhibition and that they have to be taught to release it. Lantos (1958), in discussing the genetic derivation of aggression, expressed this same view in regard to the devouring energies of the carnivora: "These archaic oral energies are, in the human being, under primary repression."
In the early months of infancy there is what we are accustomed to call rage, in the sense that the baby, when hungry, hurt or tired, cries furiously; his involuntary body movements are violent, and his facial expression reminds us of anger. Nevertheless, there is no indication that there is an objective focus for his feelings.
Teething appears to be the stimulus for the biting of suitable objects. Though the infant is apt to be irritable during phases of active teething, he does not appear to be expressing any feeling of hostility toward the objects, but only relieving the tingling of his gums.
The average age for the eruption of the first tooth is seven months, but there is wide variation among individuals. More significantly, those babies who are made uncomfortable by teething (and some do not seem to be uncomfortable at all) show evidence of this discomfort for two or three months before a tooth appears. They are fretful, they drool profusely, and they chew on whatever suitable object is available. The intensity of the discomfort appears to vary somewhat from day to day.
Though the average baby will frequently bite hard with his gums